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SA7700

When you are doing stuff that nobody has done before, there is no manual – Kevin McCloud (Grand Designs)

Which is why it is a memory item and why it's so easy/fast to reach down, pull on the mask, have the mask straps inflate, and it put over your head. Literally takes a second or two. Not saying they couldn't have goofed it up but I find it unlikely

The biggest problem I have with a fire is that it would have to be in the right place to disable ACARS and the transponder and depressurize the aircraft. You are not a 777 systems expert and neither am I, but I bet you the actual Boeing systems experts have already seen what was disabled and checked to see if a fire could have hit those in a logical manner.

Plus on top of that, explaining the turns would be hard. If there was no oxygen up there, I would find it hard to believe a passenger was able to hold his/her breath up there. If it was a crew member, the crew member would have known to put the masks on the pilots.

IDK, too many holes IMO. I thought about fire theories as well but like I said, if it was a plausible theory, I think the big wigs in Seattle would have better info on that and we haven't heard anything about a fire. I'm not sure if it's physically possible for a fire to make MH370 behave the way it did

Right, but the point is that ADS-C could potentially have sent up to two *future* planned waypoints *before* it was turned off. So the timeline would be something like: Someone sets waypoints for diverted route -> planned waypoints transmitted by ADS-C via ACARS -> Transponder/ACARS/UHF/SATCOM disabled.

If they find the plane eventually, isn't it true the CVR and FDR only record two hours? In essence the plane flew for very long and no recording or data from the initial loss of contact would be present anyway. So we still wouldn't know what really happened. Is this true?

Quoting sovietjet (Reply 7):If they find the plane eventually, isn't it true the CVR and FDR only record two hours? In essence the plane flew for very long and no recording or data from the initial loss of contact would be present anyway. So we still wouldn't know what really happened. Is this true?

I just got back in from lunch and I must say that the news coverage on this event from CNN is sickeningly juvenile. They have apparently got their hands on the "startlingly simple fire theory" story. They even had a printed out copy of it that they were fanning in the camera's direction. They then proceeded to play "join-the-dots", and plotted a straight-ruler line from the last radar blip off the west coast of Malaysia, to.....say it with me........the Maldives.

Because, as we all know, hear-say trumps facts anyday - and a technically malfunctioning airliner with no communications and systems knocked out will fly on a true heading straight to the Maldives......for no reason......then cross the island chain, do a 180, and fly southeast over them again, real low - you know, because that's consistent with a cockpit fire theory with a trained pilot looking for the nearest runway.

Quoting KIAS (Reply 5):I've been saying electrical fire from the start. I don't subscribe to these theories of hijack and stolen planes. This makes sense to me. I think Chris Goodfellow is on point.

Quoting nupogodi (Reply 12):The FDR records much longer. It will have the entire flight, if it was not disabled. The CVR in the accident aircraft, according to reports, only records the last 2 hours.

There are also FDR/CVRs with recorder independent power (RIP) but I'm not sure how many planes are equipped in such a fashion. (It only lasts ~10 minutes on loss of recorder power but that at least would help tell if it was deliberate or not)

Quoting pintail21 (Reply 264):Quoting stuyyz (Reply 253):
Quoting stuyyz (Reply 253):
Quoting davidzill (Reply 181):
Again with Diego Garcia, you will not land there without expressed permission from military ATC. The base is littered with strategic bombers, including the $3.5 billion B-2 bomber. It is a U.S. Military pit stop. Highly unlikely 370 landed there unnoticed.

Another crazy theory: Plane tries to land at Diego Garcia, can't identify itself (comms are off/out), gets shot down, cover-up underway....and they are trying to figure out how to shut those Maldivians up.

If you're in an emergency and you're low on fuel, why would you pass up Male and Gan Int'l Airports, plus far preferable ditching conditions in the Maledives to continue south a few hundred miles to the middle of the Indian Ocean?

Plus why cover it up? The Navy didn't cover up the Iranian aircraft they mistakenly shot down due to a radar error, and if they show the tapes where a large, unidentified aircraft without a squawk code shows up unannounced at a military field in a post 9/11 world would anyone really be able to fault them?

The pilot had Diego Garcia as one of his top 5 landing strips in his simulator, so for whatever reason he was aiming for this airport.
Coverup: It may all come down to the base commander or even the missile operator who is covering it up, and not telling his senior officer. Who knows...its a longshot theory in the first place.

It seems like an extremely small and rather isolated place, so that might explain why it took a while for the message to reach out. It is likely that the fishermen (or whatever they might be) that live there hadn't heard about the missing 777 so they didn't see the need to urgently report the sighting.

And as I've said before, I think the guys at Boeing would have mentioned this days ago if there was a fire that could have more or less replicated what MH370 did. That is barring any crazy conspiracy theory or Boeing being silent while they connect the dots.

Just from what little we know, I'm not sure if a single fire could explain what happened. There is usually one or two holes that need something completely crazy/nonsensical to happen

Another note people should know--pilots are trained to react to things certain ways. I'm not saying pilots never deviate from procedures but I'm 99.999% sure the 777's fire from an unknown origin (or any checklist for that matter) does not involve the pilots climbing to 45000' to de-pressurize to put the fire out*. Now what if the pilots didn't use the checklist and instead thought of that brilliant idea by themselves? That just doesn't happen. Deviations happen but I seriously doubt they'd do that climb/depressurize maneuver

If you know the procedures and checklists for MH and the 777, you can more or less guess what they would have done if X, Y, or Z happened and they followed the checklists

Quoting stuyyz (Reply 15):The pilot had Diego Garcia as one of his top 5 landing strips in his simulator, so for whatever reason he was aiming for this airport.

I'm not all that sure if that's really the case. As far as I know there's nothing that would log "top airport" in Microsoft Flight Simulator X. It has a flight log though.

I think they just concluded that all those airports mentioned in the news article are included in the simulator (as they are there by default), but maybe the captain actually never even landed into any of them in the sim.

Quoting stuyyz (Reply 15):Plus why cover it up? The Navy didn't cover up the Iranian aircraft they mistakenly shot down due to a radar error, and if they show the tapes where a large, unidentified aircraft without a squawk code shows up unannounced at a military field in a post 9/11 world would anyone really be able to fault them?

If the first thing they would do when an unidentified large aircraft appears in peace time near their airport is shooting it down they should seriously seek some help from mental health professionals. There's absolutely no need why someone would want to commit a terrorist attack using an airliner on a military island located in middle of nothing.

Obviously they would shoot it down only after identification if it didn't follow their orders & performed maneuvers that would suggest it was planning to fly into their base. I would imagine Diego Garcia has rather good radars that would make them detect the aircraft way before it was anywhere near them.

I read your reply in the previous thread. I don't think Goodfellow has a 100% perfect analysis but it's in line with my thinking. There is a ton of conflicting data and we just don't know enough yet. So it's all speculation. But, in time, we'll see.

"We fly, but we have not 'conquered' the air. When we presume mastery, we are often startled by our ignorance." - DHW

Quoting jox (Reply 17):I got this place from some of the linked postings:
https://www.google.com/maps?q=Kudahuvadhoo&ll=2.672313,72.874031&spn=0.164959,0.196552&t=h&hnear=Kudahuvadhoo&z=13

It seems like an extremely small and rather isolated place, so that might explain why it took a while for the message to reach out. It is likely that the fishermen (or whatever they might be) that live there hadn't heard about the missing 777 so they didn't see the need to urgently report the sighting.

With regards to the altitude changes, is it possible that if those altitudes are accurate, that the changes were the result of "porpoising" as in the Payne Stewart flight?
(link from result of googling payne stewart flight porpoising)

Quoting dandelany (Reply 4):Right, but the point is that ADS-C could potentially have sent up to two *future* planned waypoints *before* it was turned off. So the timeline would be something like: Someone sets waypoints for diverted route -> planned waypoints transmitted by ADS-C via ACARS -> Transponder/ACARS/UHF/SATCOM disabled.

I understand that, but what I'm saying is ADS-whatever goes out by transponder, not ACARS, right? Just trying to understand how the system works. I still think the whole FMS was programmed thing stems from they're seeing the plane overfly standard waypoints on primary radar, not they're seeing future waypoints radioed in.